Packaging machine



March 8, 1949.

N. 5. Ross PACKAGING MACHINE I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Feb. 18,1944 INVENTOR A/arman 57%? /ey fog lsmx cmcw v Arramvn March 8, 1949. VN. s. ROSS 2,464,099

PACKAGING MACHINE Original Filed Feb. 18, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 L 1 ll.Z'NVEN 1-01? A/ rman $73 ey Z055 ATmR/YEY w QAMQM.

N. 5. Ross PACKAGING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 8, 1949.

Original Filed Feb. 18, 1944 E- F: i; 1 g M 6 E i 0 7 9o 7 O 4 3 C N a 77. a w m M a y 9. a J 4 PACKAGING MACHINE March 8, 1949.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Feb. 18, 1944 INVENTOF? A orman J7an/eyE055 3y 5 1% @lwduy ATTQRNEY Patented Mar. 8, 1949 PACKAGING MACHINENorman Stanley Ross, Glen Ellyn, Ill., assignor to Pneumatic ScaleCorporation,

Limited,

Quincy, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Original applicationFebruary 18, 1944, Serial N 0. 522,913. Divided and this applicationOctober 10, 1945, Serial No. 621,444

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a packaging machine, and to a method ofpackaging.

In general the object of the invention is to provide a novel method ofand novel apparatus for packaging compactible materials in a carton, andcompacting the same in the carton and for avoiding the production ofincompletely filled cartons as a result of the compacting operation.

With this general object in view and such others as may hereinafterappear, the invention consists in the packaging machine and in thevarious structures, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafterdescribed and. particularly defined in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention,Fig. l is a plan View of a packaging machine embodying the presentinvention; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating varioussteps in the production of a package in the present machine; Fig. 5 is aside elevation of mechanism for separating the connected corner portionsof the mouth of a filled carton to form the closing flaps, ashereinafter described; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 illustrating amodified form of mechanism for separating the connecting corner portionsof the mouth of a filled carton to form the closing flaps; Fig. 7 is aplan view of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is across sectional detail view taken on the line 8--8 of Fig. '7; and Fig.9is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 7.

In general, the present invention contemplates a novel method of andnovel apparatus for producing a filled package, which are particularlyadapted to facilitate the packaging of commodities of a character suchthat the contents of a package would occupy, in the loose and expandedstate before packaging, a substantially greater volume that the capacityof the container in which the commodity is to be packaged andconsequently wherein compacting of the commodity is required during thepackaging thereof in order to deposit a predetermined weight of thematerial into the package. Such commodities, which become aerated intheir loose or flowable condition include finely divided and powderedmaterials requiring settling to make them more compact, and materialssuch as soap flakes, dehydrated foods, or the like, requiringcompression to confine a predetermined weight thereof in a selectedcontainer.

In accordance with the present invention, the capacity of the containerfor packaging products substantially conform to the volume of thedesired predetermined weight of the material when in its compactedcondition. The container employed may comprise the usual carton exceptthat the extensions of the side walls of the carton above the scoreline, which comprise the top fiap forming portions, are left connectedor partially compacted until after the filling and compacting operationshave been performed. The carton with its extended top closing portionsthus attached or connected is filled with a predetermined weight of thecommodity in its loose or expanded state, such commodity occupying aspace extending a substantial distance above the score line and beingretained between the walls of the connected closing flap formingportions. Thereafter, the material in the carton is compacted byvibrating or in other suitable manner to settle the material down to alevel substantially flush with the score line, or, the material may becompacted by a plunger arranged to compress the material down to suchlevel. The mouth portion of the carton is then expanded to force theconnected or attached portions of the closing fiap forming portionsapart down to the score line, thus forming the closing flaps for thecarton. The attached or connected portions of the closing fiaps may andpreferably will comprise weakened lines such as heavily creased orperforated lines extending from the top of the carton down to the scoreline, these lines being disposed at the corner of the carton in theusual four closing flap carton, although the weakened lines may extendalong the side or end walls for some types of cartons to form twoopposed tuck fiap portions. After separating the attached portions, thetop closing flaps may then be provided with adhesive and closed andsealed in any usual or preferred manner. Thus, in accordance with thepresent invention, the required predetermined weight of the commodity inits expanded condition may be introduced into a carton, and after beingcompacted therein, will substantially fill the container to the desiredlevel.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1to 5 inclusive, l0 represents a rectangular carton of a capacity such asto conform to a predetermined weight of a commodity in its compactedcondition. As indicated in Fig. 2, the carton is formed with extensionsl2 of the side walls beyond the score line H thereof and which comprisetop closing fiap forming portions joined at the corners along weakenedlines shown in Fig. 2 as comprising relatively small connecting portionsI6 inte ral with the flaps and disposed a relatively short distance fromthe top of the carton. Th remaining portions I8, of the flap formingportions above and below the integral connecting portions I6 maycomprise cut or weakened lines formed in the carton during themanufacture of the carton blank. The carton thus formed is filled with asufficient quantity of the loosely deposited ma terial 22 to make up therequired weight of the package, such a quantity filling the carton to a'height well above the score line I4 and being supported within theextended connected flap: forming portions I2. The material is thencompacted in the carton until it reaches a, level substantially with thescore line I4, as indicated in, Fig. 3. In the embodiment of theinvention illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, a tapered block 24 may then belowered into the mouth of the carton to break apart the integralconnecting portions I6 at the corners to form the usual four top closingflaps. The flaps may then be provided with adhesive and folded over toseal the top of the carton to complete the production of the package.

The above described operations are preferably performed upon automaticmachinery, and as illustrated in Fig. 1, the apparatus preferablyemployed in practicing the present invention may include any usual orpreferred filling or weighing mechanism, as indicated diagrammaticallyat 2B and by which the carton may be provided with the required weightof material in its loose or expanded form as above described. Theweighing machine may be arranged to discharge the filled containersbetween guide rails 28, and upon a moving belt 32 which may pass over avibratory board or other support 34 disposed beneath the belt so that inoperation as the cartons ously moving belt 32 until the foremost cartonhas been released and the stop member 40 has been again returned intothe path of the line of cartons. The second stop member 52 is arrangedto be rocked into and out of engagement with the second carton in theline in timed relation to the operation of the first stop member by acam 54 cooperating with a cam roller 56 carried by a lever 58 extendingfrom the second stop member 52.

Upon being released, the foremost filled carton in the line is advancedagainst a fixed stop member 60 to present the carton in operativerelation to the flap separating mechanism 36, and in front of a, pusher.62 adapted to be operated, after the flap forming portions have beenbroken apart, to transfer the carton into the path of the carrier arms64 carried by an endless conveying chain 68 forming a part of the topsealing machine 38.

Referring now to Fig. 5, one form of mechanism for separating theconnected top closing flapscomprises the vertically reciprocable taperedblock 24' arranged to be lowered into the mouth 5 of the carton to forcethe flap forming portions are advanced upon the belt, the material issettledl0 in the cartons.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the belt 32 is arranged to convey the filledcartons to the mechanism for separating the connected flaps, indicatedgenerally at 36, and which may be supported upon and driven throughconnections from a top sealing machine, indicated generally at 38. Suchflap separating mechanism 36 may form a unitary. part of such topsealing machine for breaking apart the connected corner portions of theflaps prior to the passage of the carton through the usual top closingand sealing mechanisms.

Provision is made in'the preferred apparatus for permitting the filledcartons being discharged upon the belt to come to rest against a movablestop member in order to form a line thereof, and also, for moving thestop member 40 out of the path of the cartons in order to releasesuccessive cartons in timed relation to the operation of the flapseparating mechanism 36. As herein shown, the stop member 40 ispivotallymounted upon a shaft 42 journaled in the machine frame, and is arrangedto be rocked into and out of the path of the line of filled cartons by acam 44 in cooperation with a cam roll 46 carried by a cam lever formingpart of the pivotally mounted stop member 40. The cam 44 is mounted fastupon a cam shaft 48 journal'ed in the machine frame and is arranged tobe rotated in timed relation to the flap separating mechanism 36 througha chain and sprocket connection 50.

A second stop member 52, alsopivotally mounted on the shaft 42 isarranged to engage the second carton in the line in order. to prevent.the line from being advanced upon-v the continu- I2- outwardly and tothus effect breaking of the connecting portions I6 at each corner of thecarton as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5. As herein shown, thetapered block 24 is carried on the end of a rod I0. secured to a blockI2 mounted upon a slide member I4 vertically movable in a guidewayfififormed in a supportingbracket I8. Provision is made for reciprocatingthe slide member I4 to effect raising and lowering of the tapered block24 into and out of the mouth of the carton, and as herein shown, theslide member 'I41is connected by a link to one arm 32 of a. bell crankpivotally mounted at 84 in the supporting bracket. The second arm 86 ofthe bell crank is connected by a link 88 to one arm 90 of a camleverpivotally mounted at 92, the second arm 94 of} the bell crankbeingprovided with; a roller 96 cooperating with a closed cam 98v fast upon acam shaft I00 journaledinthe supporting bracket I8. As illustrated inFig, 1, the cam shaft I00" is arranged tobe driven from and, in timedvrelation to. the top sealing machine 38 through connections including achain and sprocket drive I02, and bevel gears I204, I06, the latterbeing fast on across shaft I08 of the; top sealing machine, to behereinafterdescribed; It willbe observedthat the chain and. sprocketcon.- nection 50 previously referred to for driving the cam shaft 48 isoperatively connected. to the cam shaft I00 of the operating mechanism36.

From thedescription thusfar it will beobserved that in the operation. of'the machine successive filled cartons with their contents settled. orcompacted down tosubstantially. the level of the score line- I4; areadvanced to a position beneath the vertically reciprocable tapered block24. Upon lowering of-theblock to separate the connected corner portionsof the" flaps; the block is elevated and the carton with its flaps freeis then transferred into the path of the carrier arms 64 of the topsealing machine to be advanced through the mechanismfor closing and.sealing the top flaps of the carton, whereupon a, succeeding carton isreleased from the. line to be. received beneath the block 24. Any. usualor preferred transferring device. may, be employed such as the pusher 62mounted in a slide bracket .0, secured: to the machine .frameiandwhichmay be arranged to: be reciprocated ,intimedrelation to the movement; of

the carrier arms 64 through any suitable connections, not shown, fromthe top sealing machine.

The top sealing machine herein illustrated, and indicated generally at38, may in general comprise the machine forming the subject matter ofthe United States patent to Scales, No. 930,090, dated August 3, 1909,to which reference may be had for a complete description thereof. Thecarton closing and sealing mechanism, as diagrammatically illustrated inFig. 1, includes a stationary curved and flared rail I26 positioned inthe path of movement of the carton which operates to fold down theforward end flaps and to spread the side flaps of the carton. A rotaryflap tucker I28, mounted to rotate with the cross shaft I08, is arrangedto fold down the rear end flap as the carton passes thereby and topresent such fiap in a position to be received under the stationary railI28. The carton, with its side flaps horizontally extended and with itsend flaps folded down is then advanced to the adhesive applying device,indicated generally at I30, where adhesive is applied to the extendedside flaps by a pair of glue rolls I32, I34. Thereafter, the cartonpasses between stationary curved rails I36, I38 which operate to foldthe side flaps down one upon the other. The carton then passes underpressure rollers I40 to press the flaps into sealing engagement, and isthereafter discharged from the machine into the usual dryer I42 tofirmly set the adhesively secured flaps.

The driving apparatus for the top sealing machine may, in general,comprise the apparatus shown in the Scales patent above referred to, andas herein illustrated, see Fig. 1, may include a pulley I43 driven inany usual or preferred manher which is connected to a glue roll shaftI44 by cooperating gears I48, I48. A shaft I50 upon which a spreaderroll I52 is mounted to cooperate with the glue rolls I32, I34, is drivenfrom the shaft I44 through the gears I54, I56. The other end of the glueroll shaft is provided with a sprocket I58 which is connected by a chainI60 to a sprocket I62, the latter being fast upon a cross-shaft I64arranged to drive the carrier chain 68 through cooperating bevel gearsI66, I88. As herein shown, the carrier chain 68 is arranged to run overhorizontally mounted sprockets I10, H2. The cross shaft I08 from whichthe flap separating apparatus 36 and the carton releasing mechanism isdriven, is arranged to be rotated from the cross shaft I64 throughsprocket and chain connections indicated at I14 and H6 in Fig. 1.

In the above described embodiment of the invention, the apparatus asillustrated in Fig. 5 is arranged to compact the contents of thecontainer by vibrating the carton to settle the material therein.Referring now to Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive, a modified form of apparatusfor use in the present packaging machine includes mechanism for plungingthe material extending above the score line in a container havingconnected top closing flaps. The plunger is arranged to compress thecontents of the carton down to substantially the level of the scoreline, whereupon the connected portions of the top flaps, which maycomprise weakened or perforated lines I! at the corners thereof, arebroken apart by fingers carried by the plunger. As illustrated in Fig.6, the plunging member may comprise a rectang'ular block 200 attached tothe lower end of the rod I0, and the block may be verticallyreciprocated through the same connections previously described in theembodiment illustrated in Fig. 5 including the linkage therein shown,and the closed cam 98. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6, the cam98 is operative to effect lowering and raising of the block 200 tocompress the material in the carton.

The modified apparatus for separating the connected flaps of the cartonsincludes a plurality, herein shown as four fingers 202, one of which ispivotally mounted in the upper end of each corner of the plunger block200 upon pins 203 extending diagonally through each corner. The fingers202 extend longitudinally along the corners of the block and aredisposed in slotted portions 204 formed therein, and the exposed edgesof the fingers are arranged to form a continuation of the sides of therectangular block at the corner edges thereof, as best shown in Fig. 7.The fingers are held in parallel relation to the longitudinal corners ofthe block during the plunging operation by springs 206, the lower endsof the fingers engaging the inner edge 208 of the slot formed in thebase portion 2I0 of the block.

Each pivotally mounted finger 202 is provided with an inwardly extendedarm 2I2 having a rounded end portion arranged to cooperate with avertically reciprocable cam piece 2I4 to swing the fingers outwardly toperform the flap separating operation. The cam piece 2I4 is slidablymounted upon the plunger rod I0 and is arranged to be reciprocated uponthe rod through connections from a cam 2 I 6 fast on the cam shaft I00,such connections including a two-armed lever rockingly mounted at 2| 8in a bracket 220 extending from the supporting bracket I8. One arm 222of the two-armed lever is connected by a link 224 to a lug 225 extendingfrom the cam piece 2I'4, and the other arm 226 is provided with a roller228 for cooperation with the cam 2I6. A spring 230 connected to the arm222 is arranged to hold the roller 228 against its cam.

In the operation of the apparatus illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9, thefilled carton with its contents extending a substantial distance abovethe score line I4 and retained between the connected or partiallyconnected top closing fiaps is moved to a position beneath therectangular block 200. Upon lowering of the block to compress thematerial down to substantially a level with the score line, the campiece 2I4 is lowered into cooperative engagement with the fingers 202 toeffect outward rocking movement thereof to break apart the connectedportions of the mouth of the carton thus separating the closing flap. Asclearly shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the fingers 202 effect separation of theconnected corner portions from the score line upwardly, the plungerhaving come to rest at substantially the level of the score line.Thereafter, the cam piece 2M and the plunger block 200 are elevated andthe carton with its flaps free is transferred to the mechanism forclosing and sealing the top flaps, as previously described.

While the carton herein indicated has been preferably illustrated asbeing partially cut or perforated along the lines connecting the closingflaps thereof, it will be understood that the contemplated uses of thepresent flap separating apparatus includes a use for separating theattached portions of the top closing flaps which are connected by anyform of weakened line such as a heavily scored or creased line which maybe readily separated by expansion of the mouth portion.

From the; above. description it will be, observed that the embodiment ofthe invention illustrated in Figs; 1 to 5' may be used with particularadvantage in the. packaging of commodities which require settlin aloneto compact the material therein, such as flour, starch and other finelydivided materials which do not readily respond to compression, and theembodiment illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9 may be employed with particularadvantage in the packaging of materials which may be readily compactedby compression such as relatively light fiufiy materials including soapflakes and some of the dehydrated foods. However, it will be understoodthat in some instances it. may be of advantage to partially settle thematerial in the carton and then compress the same to a level with thescore line, and as herein illustrated, these operations may be performedby first passing the filled container over the vibratory board 34 andthen compacting the same with the plunger 200 as above described. Itwill also be observed that a plunging action may be performed with thetapered block 24 by extending the bottom 25 thereof into engagement withthe material to provide a compressing action as the block is lowered toeffect separation of the flaps as above described.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 522,913filed February 18, 1944, noW Patent Number 2,440,193 dated April 20,1948.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been hereinillustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention maybe embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a packaging machine having carton supporting means adapted forsupporting in a predetermined position a. rectangular carton having abody portion, top flap forming portions, and a score line defining saidportions, and having the flap forming portions connected; by weakenedportions at the corners. extending from the top down to said score line,mechanism for expanding and separating said fiapforming. portions fromone another along saidweakened portions toform the top closingfiaps,said mechanism comprising a vertically reciprocable memberpro vided witha plurality of fingers. arrangedv to be lowered into the mouth of thecartonv and disposed to contact the corners of said rectangular carton,and means for moving said fingers outwardly to eiTect breaking. apart.of said flap forming portions.

2. In a packaging machine having carton supporting means adapted forsupporting in a predetermined position a rectangular carton. comprisinga body portion provided at its upper end with four unformed butconnected top flap forming portions, a reciprocatory member adapted tobe inserted into the carton provided with a plurality of fingers forengaging the inner surfaces of the flap forming portions at the cornersof the carton, and means for operatin said fingers to move the sameoutwardly and force the flap forming portions outwardly and therebybreak apart the same to form top closing flaps.

NORMAN STANLEY ROSS.

REFERENCE S CITED The following references are. of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS" Number Name Date 930,090 Scales Aug. 3,. 19091,625,7 0 Gangler Apr. 19, 1927

